newly elected president obama is back in washington, automatic spending cuts and tax increases set to go into effect at the beginning of the year, known together as the fiscal cliff. members of one of the most deeply divided congresses in history are sending smoke signals up capitol hill to note they are ready to get back to the bargaining table. >> mr. president, this is your moment. we are ready to be led, not as democrats or republicans, but as americans. >> i want to work together, but i want everyone to also understand, you can't push us around. we want to work together. >> as washington digs back in, politicians and pundits alike are still post-gaming obama's election night victory. >> as soon as the votes started

coming in and we matched them up against the model, we were well convinced that the thing was going to go according to plan. >> republicans in a crisis of their own after mitt romney's disastrous defeat. does the governor's loss and demise signal a greater crossroads for the grand 'ole party? >> i think it's more of a branding problem because the branding problem is connected to problems of substance. >> what's the time frame here? is it the republican party perhaps a year and a half to sort of figure out what direction they're going to head in. a year and a half before the leaders of the republican party go to the front window of the club that they belong to, open up the drapes, and look out on main street and see the reality of life in america today. >> let's bring in today's political power group. steve mcmahon, co-founder of purple strategies, who also served as an adviser to howard dean's 2004 presidential campaign. and mark mckinney, co-founder of

no labels and a daily beast contributor. steve, i want to start with you because it is the president's first day wak back on the job already. there is talk of the fiscal cliff. what's the best way to move the republican party back from the fringes, out of the quicksand and back on solid ground in washington. >> i think the good news for the country is that john boehner and his president actually have a pretty good relationship. they like each other. that's a really good starting point. it's something you don't see in washington these days. and all you see between democrats and republicans is acrimony. i think boehner set a great signal yesterday. i think the person who called boehner yesterday and said let's get back to work is a big deal. >> i want to ask you. do the american voters really get the attention of the gop now? do they send a clear message that misogynistic, bigoted,

homophobic candidate es just dot fly. how do they get the party back on track? >> losing does a lot more parties, and spending time in the desert does a lot toward figuring out how to get to water. the republican party obviously has a lot of work to do, but i'm encouraged they will get the message, that we understand we've got to be a larger tent. we can't continue to just go after a shrinking -- trying to expand a shrinking demographic and recognize we need more tolerance, more diversity, and more policies and messages that address the broad fabric of middle america. so i think the message is loud and clear. i don't think there's any question about that. ultimately, it will be good for the party, and they'll get strong new leadership that will be -- by the way, don't forget it was just a couple of years ago we had sweeping republican, historic numbers. so it wasn't that long ago. and it may not be that long in the future that we see the wave come back. >> you know, as we talk about this soul searching that's

taking place right now, there are some major national voices, republican voices, that are setting the tone to the conversation. i want you to take a look at what took place between laura ingram and ann coulter. >> if mitt romney cannot win in this economy, then the tipping point has been reached. we have more takers than makers, and it's over. >> i'm sorry, and this is going to sound cruel. some of the times, i didn't feel like he was connecting with the material. i think you have to connect with the material. maybe it's people who have actually been in the trenches for decades, not someone who just was a success in business. >> right now, we see these people on the right trying to gain their credibility back, kind of throwing him under the bus. shouldn't the party get out of its conservative talk show host bubble and come up with real solutions? is because as a country, americans are facing real problems right now. there's not within the republican party. we do have real problems at home. >> what you're seeing is republicans are having this

debate internally about was it mitt romney's fault, or is it our overall demographics and party fault? i would say it's both. if you look at the demographics, there's no reason the republicans should have lost. they lost the asian-american vote, not traditionally democratic, but 40 points. that's not something that should have happened. that's a branding party problem. but mitt romney lost in states like ohio that are not demographically different than they were ten years because he struggled as a candidate as well. you have two different problems that they're trying to piece through right now. >> mark, do conservative principles, particularly that of smaller government, is that going to appeal to groups like minorities and women who might believe the government does have a role in their lives? is >> absolutely. in fact, all the data coming back from exit polls show that people still want less government. they want more government. it's still a center right country, but the message needs to be about entrepreneurship and needs to be about -- our message to -- republican message to

hispanics was that they were somehow pleading for entitlements. that couldn't have been more tone deaf. hispanics are the great engines of growth and small business and entrepreneurship in this country. that's the message we should be encouraging and talking about with hispanics, not talking about self-deportation and going after tuition of illegal immigrants and those sorts of issues. that put an unwelcoming face toward these growing demographics. >> perry, as the work gets back, everybody gets back to work in washington, d.c., let's talk about the tone there. republicans have referred to the president in the first four years as the food stamp president, someone we're going to make a one-term president. now it's an eight-year proposition, and they're going to have to work with president obama. is someone like speaker boehner liberated now to do that? >> i think the tone will change. speaker boehner already saw a more conciliatory tone. what i don't know if if their poll advertise will change. a lot of republicans in the house are still the tea party

members that got elected in 2010. even if they're talking more politely than they were three years ago, ultimately they have to sign onto compromises. are they plg to sign onto any tax increase? the signs aren't clear. mitch mcconnell seemed to be saying no on tuesday, john boehner seemed to be saying possibly. so the issue is are they willing to move to the center on key issues? >> the books are being written but the chapters have yet to be lived out in a second obama term. ron suskin wrote in an op-ed for "the new york times" about whether obama can give the confidence americans need right now, focusing on legacy, which he goes on to say is the end game of the president and is often missing what's happened before his eyes. the great mishap of the first term is failing to direct. with a new president, a sky high approval rating, a sea of enthusiasts. with hindsight 2020, how will obama be different with legacy now in front of his mind? >> i actually think, in terms of

legacy, he's going to have the legacy of bringing health care reform, which presidents have tried for a very long time, to fruition here in america, and he made a choice in doing that, and it probably was a choice that cost him some political capital because it came at the expense of some other things he might have done that people frankly thought were more important. i think he understands now this is an opportunity to -- and frankly, there's a mandate here, not just to deal with things like the fiscal cliff, but also to continue the economic recovery policies that the president has put in place that have been working slowly but working in some measure. the unemployment rate is now below 8% for the first time since he took office, 5 million new jobs have been created. people understood when they voted that progress is being made, and even the president said it wasn't fast enough for his liking, but he understands that's job number one now going forward, and that's something he'll be focused on from day one. >> we know the white house has its own brew. do you think the president needs a beer summit, mitch mcconnell,

john boehner? the three get together and figure out how to work together. >> we need to get everybody in the room. everybody should be at the table, and everything should be on the table, and the time is now to do that. >> my power panel, thanks so much, gentlemen. i appreciate your insights. coming up in just a few minutes, i'm going to have a chance to talk to dnc chairwoman, congresswoman debbie waserman schultz will join us. congresswoman gabby giffords will come face to face with the shooter who nearly took her life and the lives of 11 others. why are we waiting on florida once again? we're going to talk to debbie wasserman schultz about her home state. president obama reelected. what should be the first thing on his agenda? . ♪ 99 bushels of wheat on the farm...99 bushels of wheat! ♪

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welcome back, everybody. one battleground state still has not been decided for either candidate in this presidential election. we're talking about florida. the sunshine state remains too close to call with the president leading the vote at the last check. the final rendering could be close at hand. we just learned this morning that miami-dade elections officials are kouncounting 500 absentee ballots and should be finished sometime today. joining me, congresswoman debbie wasserman schultz, also chair of the dnc. we need to dig in and talk about your home state of florida. we talked about it many times this hour. >> my favorite subject. >> you said that florida would be delivered. the coveted electoral votes would go in the president's favor. here we are now, florida the only state not declared. we saw the images of long voting

lines in florida. that's going to be ingrained in people's minds. some people waiting up to six hours to vote. it's another checkered dot on florida's voting history. explain where we stand right now with the count and why it's taking so long. how can hindsight be 20/20 moving forward in your state? >> i was confident that the president would win florida. we put together the most significant, the largest grass roots presidential campaign in florida history. really nationally that bore out as well. i know you and i talked numerous times about the so-called enthusiasm gap, which we proved in florida and across the country, did not exist. in fact, african-americans, latinos, and women turned out in even greater numbers for president obama in florida. the jewish vote was at 70%. there really was not an erosion of any significance. we were able to make sure the key demographics that came out to vote for the president in explosive numbers. ultimately, by the end of the day, miami-dade county is actually the county that gave

one of the most significant pluralities of the vote to president obama. when those votes are done being counted, i fully expect that florida will go in the win column for president obama once again. >> he is ahead in the count. >> yes. >> the president is back to work in washington, d.c. the big conversation now about the fiscal cliff looming. i want to play for you what speaker john boehner had to say about striking a compromise during his news conference yesterday. take a listen. >> in order to garner republican support for new revenues, the president must be willing to reduce spending and shore up entitlement pramograms that are the primary drivers of our debt. >> it seems as if speaker boehner is willing to extend an olive branch recognizing this is an eight-year commitment to president obama now? do you think he means it while still trying to make tea party members happy? >> i heard speaker boehner's speech yesterday, and it was somewhat of an olive branch. i think it's important to note that president obama campaigned

very clearly on a balanced approach to deficit reduction. we needed to make sure we made responsible spending cuts but we also asked people who can afford to pay a little bit more do so. we need to make sure, as we go through the discussions, we don't allow the middle class tax cuts to expire. we've got to give certainty to the middle class, but the olive branch, i'm hopeful, i'm a glass is half full person, but i hope the republicans realize that there was a clear mandate. voters knew what they were doing when they voted to re-elect president obama yesterday. they wanted us to work together. i heard that overwhelmingly as i crisscrossed the country for the president. we can't engage in my way or the highway politics anymore. i know democrats are ready to work with the republicans. we hope they're ready to work with us as well. >> another item on the president's agenda is the showdown in iran and smoothing over what appears to be tensions with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu after all the accusations of appeasement on the other side. as you pointed out in florida, president obama is winning the jewish vote.

smaller margins than what we saw come out in '08. what does the president need to do for both? to keep everybody happy at this time right now, all these voters in his corner. >> the discretion over iran and doing everything we can to prevent them from obtaining a nuclear weapon is not about politics. it's about making sure we can keep americans safe, that we can keep israelis and actually everybody around iran, who would be hugely, horrifically impacted if they were able to get a nuclear weapon, this is not a poll icy of containment, as the president said. i was really pleased to see prime minister netanyahu meet with our ambassador to israel to underscore how important the relationship is between the united states and israel, emphasizing the close security cooperation that we've had significantly and consistently, and we're going to work together to continue to make sure that iran is never allowed to obtain a nuclear weapon. that's going to be critical. >> real quickly, while we have you here, on a more personal note, it is an important day for

your good friend gabby giffords, who along with her husband, is going to confront the man who shot her in court when he appears, that is, jared loughner appears for sentencing less than one hour from now. mark kelly preparing to address jared loughner on behalf of their family. this is according to politico. have you spoken to gabby giffords about her feelings about today? >> actually, i spoke with mark yesterday. i think today is going to be the first and last time that gabby will have an opportunity -- gabby and mark will have an opportunity to be in the same room as her attacker. it's an opportunity to close a chapter. it will be the last time she's there too. he'll go off -- he'll continue in prison where he belongs, and she's going to bring closure to this. they're doing great. she's back in tucson. they bought a new house. she's so happy to be home in her beloved hometown. this is an opportunity for closure and for this nightmare to really officially be behind

her. >> america got to see her at the convention, and certainly she still has the hearts and prayers. >> she sure does. >> from the country for a full recovery. congresswoman debbie wasserman schultz, thank you so much for your time. we are keeping a close eye on the markets. not much movement today. we're seeing negative numbers down by 35 points on the dow jones. there was a recovery from yesterday's big sell-off, as we looked back on what we saw yesterday, though, the dow closed down by more than 300 points yesterday. you see trading down there by 35 points. we're back with much more right after this. bob, these projections... they're... optimistic. productivity up, costs down, time to market reduced... those are good things. upstairs, they will see fantasy. not fantasy... logistics. ups came in, analyzed our supply chain, inventory systems... ups? ups. not fantasy? who would have thought? i did.

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for bipolar disorder and depression. searching for survivors in a deadly earthquake in guatemala. the 7.4 magnitude tremor killed at least 48 people. several aftershocks have followed. the u.s. army private accuseded of leaking classified documents to wikileaks could take responsibility for minor offenses. but bradley manning could be tried on more serious charges, including aiding the enemy. lady gaga is pledging mon $1 million to victims of hurricane sandy. she says fans in new york city made her the artist she is today. we are expecting an update shortly from governor chris christie on the nor'easter that has hit the region on the heels of superstorm sandy. certainly adding insult to injury. plus a cabinet shakeup ahead. what the president's team will look like for his second term. who might stay, who might go. we'll talk about it. ♪

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president obama has a slough of big issues and big challenges on deck as he moves into a second term. one of the biggest priorities on the foreign front, ongoing instability in syria and concerns about iran's nuclear program. also creating new paths to citizenship with a renewed push for immigration reform and negotiating with the gop as america nears the edge of its fiscal cliff. one of the most pressing is a house keeping issue. restocking his cabinet. questions now are who's staying, who's going. nbc's kristen we will kerr is live for us at the white house with more on this. kristen, a lot of talk has been bouncing around over who the potential people are that might be leaving and who might be coming in. what do we know definitively about who is on the fence? >> hey, good morning, thomas. just to be clear, i don't think president obama has made any definitive decisions, but there have been a lot of rumblings, about who's staying and who's going. this is customary when a president wins a second term. we saw this under bush and under clinton. let's talk about the top names of who might be leaving, and let's start out with secretary of state hillary clinton.

she has made no secret of the fact that she is ready to leave. some have said she might be a possible contender for 2016. we'll have to wait and see if that pans out. but who are the possible replacements? they include senator john kerry or u.n. ambassador susan rice. of course, senator john kerry recently spent a lot of time with president obama. he helped him on debate preparations. another person who has been very vocal about wanting to leave if the president has a second term. treasury secretary timothy geithner. he's been the president's right hand man when it comes to the economy. he helped bring the economy back from the brink in 2009. possible replacements for geithner include the current chief of staff jack lou, who is widely respected within this administration but also within washington, d.c. another person who might potentially be leaving is defense secretary leon panetta. leon panetta is someone who might be ready to retire from

what has been a long and distinguished career in politics. dates back to 1977 when he was in the house of representatives. possible replacements include his deputy secretary and also michelle flourney, the former undersecretary of defense. and then attorney general eric holder possibly leaving. possible replacements for him include homeland security secretary janet napolitano. a lot of people staying, arne duncan, education secretary, kathleen sebelius, secretary of health and human services, and hilda solis, the labor secretary. thomas? >> a moving chess board, for sure. talk about the west wing and the talk going on there about the conciliatory tone that john boehner tried to strike in his press conference yesterday. seems he has open arms to work with the president now. >> reporter: he has a conciliatory tone.

president obama had a conciliatory tone in the speech that he gave, his victory speech he gave the other night. i think that lawmakers on the hill and here in the white house have real lly gotten the messag from people they want to see the folks here work together to get the deal done. the other problem on the plate is the fiscal cliff. if lawmakers can't come together and resolve this, it could lead to an economic crisis for the country. i think that what you heard from house speaker john boehner is that he is willing to work with this administration. i think it is very telling that president obama reached out to lawmakers on both sides of the aisle within hours of the election to say, i want to work with you. let's get this started on the right path. i do think there will be a bit of a fight over the fiscal cliff. of course, it involves taxes and spending cuts. you're always going to have a back and forth when you have big issues like that. i don't think you're going to see the big crisis that we saw oi over the debt ceiling debate during the summer of 2011.

>> kristen we wilker, thanks so much. we appreciate it. let's look at the fiscal cliff looming over their heads, with either party truly compromising, or will america go off the cliff in an all out stalemate. joining me is nbc's policy analyst and washington post columnist ezra klein. let's get into this. part of the sticking point are the bush-era tax cuts. the president drew a line in the sand and said no extension for those making more than $250,000. is this a game of chicken, and if so, who's going to blink first? >> it is a game of chicken. the fiscal cliff, i always like to call it the fiscal collision. you're dealing with two competing priorities. a lot of people say they want deficit reduction, but if you really get to the bottom of the fiscal cliff, what people are scared of is there will be too much deficit reduction too quick. too many tax increases and too many spending cuts that will send us into recession. the question is how do you ballet need for more stimulus against the need for more deficit reduction? what boehner and obama are currently dealing with right now

is a potential deal to not increase taxes by raising tax rates. if you look carefully at what boehner is saying, kweeps saying we don't need to raise tax rates but possibly to raise revenues by reforming the tax code. by closeding loopholes, ending deductions. boehner is hoping they can make the deal they need to make but not increasing tax rates, which if you talk to republican economists, it's the thing they like the least, which ends up discouraging work. >> we're not going to see what we saw this summer, with which is that everyone is so willing to disqualify the president so wholeheartedly that the economic system took such a hit for our credit to be downgraded. talk about -- does it benefit anybody's side, though, to let -- so america really go over the cliff, so to speak? >> it depends what deal people think they can get before and after the cliff. i think there's a good chance we go off of the cliff, and i think it will be as bad as it was in the summer.

we have a debt ceiling coming up in two months. a lot of americans think, if we go off the cliff, we hold until we get to the debt ceiling, and we've got our leverage back. if we combine the fiscal cliff and another debt ceiling, it will be an economic storm unlike anything we saw in 2008 when lehman fell. but the reason there is this question of going off the fiscal cliff, it's not about whether or not it benefits one side or the other per se, but whether anybody can actually cut a deal if we don't. can boehner get house republicans to sign onto tax increases before he's shown they did everything he could, gone off the cliff, and just not winning the public opinion battle? a lot of the way these negotiations have done has been a process of boehner showing his party, showing his side he did everything he absolutely could, and it's not clear the internal dynamics of the house republican conference have changed enough for boehner to solve this is a smooth or quicker fashion this time either? >> as president clinton said when he was campaigning for the president, it's all about simple

arithmetic here. the country needs to make more money and spend less. are we going to see something dramatic, something bold happen? the constitution says we're supposeded to have a budget, but are we going to see more can kicking down the road? >> i think we'll see something. there's a question of whether we'll see a big fiscal deal along the lines of simpson-bowles or kind of see it grind it out, cut a bit, nip and tuck, along the lines of what obama and boehner are dealing with. we need, just to stabilize the debt, $2 trillion in savings. that's not the craziest lift we can do. we can do savings to get things even lower though it's not clear we need to do that in the short term. then there's stimulus. we talk as if debt reduction is the only problem. for my money, if the market is willing to pay us money to keep their money safe, we're not facing a deficit problem. it's a big jobs problem. whether we're going to see infrastructure spending or an expanded tax cut in this deal is

going to be a very important policy to mention going forward. >> a lot of work has already been done. as you bring up simpson-bowles, is there a possibility because the super committee didn't have the majority to move it forward, now that the president is reelected and it's affirmed, is there a possibility to revive that? >> i never quite understood. it's difficult to get simpson-bowles into specific legislative language. simpson-bowles is not as specific as people think it is. there's an outside chance that republicans and democrats look at this. they're just exhausted and disgusted by the idea of going through it again, and they kind of say, ugh, i don't like everything in here, but let's do this, pass it, and get it done. first they need to get simpson-bowles into real legislative action, which is what the gang of eight is working on. today storm worried people along the east coast digging out from a nor'easter just ten days after hurricane sandy. the storm's gusting winds, the rains, the record setting snow already piled onto the misery of much of the northeast. new jersey governor chris christie is beginning a news conference on that cleanup. we're going to keep our eyes on what he is having to say.

at this hour, the nor'easter is lashing parts of new england, so further north than new jersey. although the storm has passed in some areas. we have the weather channel's meteorologist maria larosa, who is live in scituate, mass. >> reporter: i want to you see behind me. we're sort of in a protected area. we're not right on the coast. but you can see how the sea water is just turning. right now when we were out at high tide about 5:43 this morning, the water was high enough and the wind blew quickly enough that you have all of this water coming over the wall. you have another high tide at 6:00. the winds are not going to be decreasing enough where you're not going to see that kind of thing again. we have some street flooding. you can see this through the rest of the day. back to you. >> we can hear how hard the winds are blowing. maria larosa in scituate, mass,

thank you so much. women making history in the senate yesterday. all those faces right there. melissa harris perry is going to join me to sound off on the possible impact of women making a difference on the gridlock in washington. plus the romney reckoning. what really went long? what's next for the former gop standard bearer? and today's question, president obama re-elected. what should be the first thing on his agenda? melons!!! oh yeah!! well that was uncalled for. folks who save hundreds of dollars switching to geico sure are happy. how happy, ronny? happier than gallagher at a farmers' market. get happy. get geico. chances are, you're not made of money, so don't overpay for motorcycle insurance.

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republican spin doctors and donors are racking their brains trying to figure out how things went so horribly wrong when it came down to their guy losing the white house. all this as president obama tries to work with the man he ultimately defeated. >> i am looking forward to reaching out and working with leaders of both parties to meet the challenges we can only solve

together -- reducing our deficit, reforming our tax code, fixing our immigration system, freeing ourselves from foreign oil. we've got more work to do. >> so what does all this partisan soul searching mean for mitt romney and what role could he possibly serve in the process? joining me nbc and hill columnist karen and congressman jim saltzman. it's not like '08 when he simply returned to the senate, like john mccain. what's next for mitt romney? does he even fit into the ongoing political conversation? >> that's a good question. the nice thing about being a billionaire is that you can choose your role, most likely. i don't think we'll see governor romney trying to maintain or bring -- have any kind of leadership role in the republican party going forward. i do think, having gone through

a version of this in the aftermath of 2004 with democrats where there again you had john kerry, who went back to the senate, but there still was this question about who was the leader of the democratic party. i don't think you'll see mitt romney be a part of that conversation. i would imagine he'll take some time off and kind of heal from all of this. a loss is a loss. and then decide for himself. i actually would not be surprised if we don't really see him on the national political scene much anymore. >> certainly, it is tough because you put your heart and soul into this many campaign. it is hard for him. high profile republicans are treating mitt romney like a pinata now, and that is not the gop strategy to court hispanic voters. a lot of moderates jumped on the mitt romney bandwagon. theyn't waed to raise him up and see him win. where do these moderates now turn for a leader and a leadership role in their party? >> i think a lot of these folks are looking towards 2016 already. i'll be honest with you.

24 hours later, the body is still twitching a bit, and the phones started ringing about who's next, who are we going to talk about, who's going to be the leader of the party? the first thing you need when you have a problem is first admit you have a problem, as any good 12-step program would say. i think the party is doing the right thing, taking a step back, we got beat, get up and dust ourselves back. try to work with the president when we can, do what's best for the country, and try to move forward together as a party. >> the same could be said. if president obama had lost, would there be a true democratic leader to rise up and fill the shoes of the democratic party? >> i think there would be. nancy pelosi is a very strong leader of democrats in the house. the interesting thing over the last couple of years is that boehner has actually relied on her to help get some things done because he couldn't rely on parts of his own caucus because of some those tea partiers who are now thankfully gone. and you have harry reid. i think there are enough voices in the democratic party that i don't think we would have faced the same kind of problem

particularly because a lot of the ideas that president obama was talking about and campaigned on are core democratic party values, and they're things that democrats have been working on for some time. i think the larger problem for republicans is they basically have now several times put forward ideas that the american people have soundly rejected. the idea of trying to take a moderate, dress him up like a conservative, trying to redress him and run him in a general election, they've got to go back to the drawing board and say we need ideas that appeal to the american people. >> chip, overall, though, and i ask this of mark mckinnon earlier in the hour, not just when it comes to mitt romney, but for republican candidates overall, did the american people send a big message that misogynistic, homophobic, bigoted, racist candidates aren't going to fly in modern day politics and they need to check that stuff at the door if they want to get elected to office? >> i don't think that works any time. any time you have a candidate or

person that does that, we should kick them to the curb. i don't think romney was doing that. obviously, we had races where some people made big mistakes like that and hurt the party. i think we go back to our strength, which is the governors. we've got 30 governors in the country that are republican. we did a good job there. those are folks making it happen every day. they're getting in the nuts and bolts of growing an economy. if we look to our governors, that's always been the strength of the republican party. you see folks like a governor casic in ohio, governor martinez in new mexico, governfvernor ha in tennessee. >> msnbc analyst karen finney and republican strategist chip saltsman. i appreciate it. presidential hug making history. president obama tweeted out this picture of him hugging the first lady on election night. it quickly became the most popular image in twitter history. the photo was taken in a campaign rally over the summer

and was been retweeted 788,000 times. third time is the charm, right? the dress michelle obama wore on election night, maybe you recognized it. it's one she's worn twice in the past at a military event in 2010 and first to a holiday party in '09. a source told "people" magazine she was so busy with the campaign, she had no time to think about an outfit for that evening. she reportedly decided to pick that at the last minute. it was a fifth place finish for roseanne barr. no joke here, the comedienne finished fifth in the presidential election, getting 49,000 votes. on the funny side of things, nbc news anchor brian williams sat down with funny man david letterman to talk about the election in a serious way. >> this was a campaign targeting really specifically targeting reading the census, going after a demographic, the engine room in chicago with all these mass whizes deciding how do we win this thing? they went after specific groups,

counties, neighborhoods, precinct captains. this was math. it was ground game. >> last night, though, south park had a different explanation for how the president won the election. voter fraud. and eric cartman tries to steal the election. >> look at you possibly having a room that could change the outcome of the election. >> pretty sweet, huh? >> this is breaking election news. hold that phone. the election may be over, but rumors are running rampant that hundreds of thousands of ballots for mitt romney were stolen. >> cartman is always up to no good. >> and an election special, a special edition of the song you can't dub this. ♪ thank you for blessing me with a mind to run and to defeat ♪ ♪ feels good when you know you're down ♪ ♪ a super homeboy from the hometown ♪

♪ i told you homeboy

president obama re-elected. what should be the first thing on his agenda? keith says, sit down with boehner to refocus how both parties will work together going forward. this from megan mitchell. s a college student, i say jobs. donald, fiscal cliff, immigration, gay marriage. we ask and encourage you to keep comments coming in, find us on facebook and twitter. 2012, year of the woman? women, they won big in all races across the country this week. five new women senators making for a total of 20 women senators next year. new hampshire has the first all-female delegation in u.s. history. joining me from new orleans, melissa harr melissa harr melissa har rris-perryharris-pe. i must comment you feel safe to wear red now that the election's sewn up. >> right. it's fine to wear all of the colors, red, blue, purple.

>> a christmas sweater. get ready for christmas. now i know. so often when we discuss women and done so on this network so much, women's rights in washington, primary players have all been men. so do you think that this infusion of women leaders on capitol hill will help change the dynamic and break some of the gridlock in certain discussions? >> we know that it makes a difference. so we can look at state legislators, our own u.s. house of representatives and for the first time with a really strong number of women in the senate, we know when there are women and a higher percentage of them in these legislative bodies, that they are often precisely the group that manage to find common ground across partisan differents. now i would say that the difference here is we didn't get sort of an influx of republican and democratic women. these women were mostly brought in as democratic wins. but it will undoubtedly make a difference hopefully in sort of breaking some of that partisanship that we've seen. >> senator-elect fisher in

nebraska, we'll wait to see what she brings to the table. the president won the women's vote. we also saw in the election cycle candidates like todd akin, richard mourdock fall because of their comments, beliefs about rape and pregnancy. joe walsh defeated after bashing of tammy duckworth. until they get serious about women's issues and stop talking them down, really use this election cycle as hindsighting 20/20, moving forward? >> look, we have to separate out two issues differently. what is it about women as candidates and what difference they're going to make and the other is sort of the real extreme itch that we saw on issues of reproductive rights but also just on the notion of women as adults who can be trusted to tell the truth about their own reproduction, whether or not they've been victims of violence. you know we did see undoubtedly a strong repudiation, and i think a bipartisan repudiation

that rape is up for redefinition. each in places where mitt romney won the popular vote in the state, we nonetheless saw that todd akins and the richard mourdocks fall and that should be very encouraging because it does say these sort of things are off the table, this is the 21st century we are citizens and operate as true. >> success, you know, spurs success especially when it comes to women moving ahead in all facets of life, business, politics, reports that actress ashley judd could be a top contender to challenge mitch mcconnell in 2014. could we see more high-profile women? she was lending her voice to the dnc and politically active. could we see more high-profile women entering races? >> pipeline is -- remains the single most important issue for increasing the number of women in elected office and there are two central pipeline issues.

one women starting at state legislative level and moving up through the ranks. ashley judd is not an example of that. she's a big named person who can come in from outside and enter into politic in the same way that elizabeth warren was able to do, though from a different arena, obviously. in those cases, though, that notion of pipeline of really generating talent at the bottom is a responsibility of the parties and so both of the democratic and republican party need to think carefully about how they nurture local leaders, women who are on the school board, women on the city council, to build that pipeline. >> is it the farm teams that matter. melissa harris-perry, thanks. watch melissa's show here weekends 10:00 oa.m. on msnbc. sow you back here 11:00 a.m. "now with alex wagner" is next. >> thomas, i really look forward to a mitch mcconnell/ashley judd run-off. >> a good face-off. >> must-see tv. >> the debate. >> right. let's go. ashley judd, can you hear us?

election giddiness -- giddiness of the election is wearing off as the country heads towards a fiscal precipe. congressional leaders ready to extend a lifeline? we'll discuss compromise with governor ed rendell, luke russert, joy reid. money can't buy you love or elections, at least this time around. outside spending's big fail. and author sasha isenbberg, all of that when "now" starts in a mere 180 seconds. the capital one cash rewards card

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